Commonly, canned food/drink products are supplied in a shallow tray made of paperboard or corrugated board, with a shrink wrapping of plastic film. A number of these shrink wrapped trays are often stacked one above the other on a supermarket shelf. The trays are usually stacked on their widest surface which can be considered as lacking space efficiency, particularly if only one tray is on the shelf. Additionally the shrink wrap is not good for assisting in product differentiation.
In co-pending international patent application PCT/GB2003/003351, there is provided a paperboard carton for articles arranged in at least two layers, the carton having a top panel, a base panel, a pair of oppositely disposed side panels and a pair of oppositely disposed end panel arrangements, a divider pad being provided between the adjacent layers of articles and being secured relative to the end panel arrangement at one end, one of the side panels having a removable portion adjacent said one end so as to define a roll-out aperture for article removal when the carton is lying on said one end panel arrangement. In some embodiments one or more cuts extend partway to the adjacent end from the removable portion. Conveniently two of said cuts extend along the folds between said one side panel and the top and base panels respectively and also a transverse cut is provided at the end of the or each cut remote from the removable portion.